Council / Remuneration report goes in front of councillors – but pay only one barrier to people standing for election
A REPORT on pay increases for councillors went in front of Shetland’s elected members on Wednesday – with plenty of debate about the barriers people face when thinking about standing for election.
The pay increases are nationally mandated, with elected members having no say on the majority of the changes.
Pay levels and “toxicity”, including social media backlashes, as well as other elements like timings of meetings, were pointed to as reasons why people may be put off from standing for election.
In addition, there is also a desire to see greater diversity among councillors.
The remuneration of the local council leader position is to increase by around 40 per cent to just over £50,000, with new national regulations set to change which ‘band’ Shetland Islands Council lies in – which in turn determines the level of pay for senior posts.
As a result the convener position in Shetland is also in line for a similar uplift, to £37,548.
The basic salary of councillors across Scotland is set to rise by nearly 22 per cent to £25,982.
Senior councillors – those who hold committee chair positions – will also get a pay uplift.
The increases for senior councillors was a key area in which elected members had discretion over when the report was presented at Wednesday’s meeting.
Other areas like the leader’s salary and the basic wage were fixed, with councillors having no say in the matter.
With a few potential scenarios suggested for senior councillors, a vote went in favour of leader Emma Macdonald’s motion to adopt an option which she said would give the “fairest spread” of money.
This will see chairs of the main functional committees – such as education and families and development – have their pay rise by 38.5 per cent to around £34,243, while whose who lead other committees and boards, including audit, planning and licensing – will receive an uplift of 28.4 per cent to around £30,112.
The increases, set to come into force at the start of April, are a knock-on effect of last year’s recommendations from the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC), which have been accepted by the Scottish Government.
A key theme from a survey undertaken by SLARC was that the role is councillor is now “more demanding than the pay suggests”.
Low remuneration has long been regarded as a key reason why many people are reluctant to put their name forward to stand in council elections in Scotland.
There was a by-election in the North Isles ward in 2022 after only two people put themselves forward for the three seats on offer – while in Shetland North no-one was able to go to the ballot box because only three folk went for that ward’s three seats.
The independent review undertaken by SLARC, which was convened at the request of council umbrella body COSLA and last reported to government ministers in 2011, aimed to explore councillors’ pay in the country and barriers to elected office.
At the moment the leader of the SIC – Emma Macdonald – is paid £35,580 a year, and the council’s convener Andrea Manson receives £26,686 a year.
The new salaries will represent a pay increase of 40.7 per cent.
The report to councillors added that the level of the leader’s remuneration sets the upper limit against which other maximum amounts can be calculated for other roles.
The report was introduced by SIC legal chief Jan Riise, who highlighted the number of hours a councillor may work – and that there is no such thing as overtime.
He said it was “easy” to talk about pay rises and simply apply a percentage.
But Riise said there had been a review of the work undertaken by councillors on the basic salary in Scotland.
An average workload of around 26 hours a week was identified following a survey of these elected members.
He said the life of a councillor in the public eye can be a “heavy load to bear, and that’s not helped by social media and sometimes poor reporting”.
Some councillors during Wednesday’s meeting spoke about the acerbic nature of some comments on social media.
Riise also said the financial impact from the new regulations is funded by the Scottish Government – and stressed there is no link to council tax increases, suggesting there has been “misreporting” on this.
He also noted that the planned national increases do not take into account the additional cost of living in rural and island areas.
“It can’t fix everything, but it is a start,” he said.
Council leader Macdonald said the report was about the “future of local government” and the importance of local democracy in communities.
She also said it was not about the people sitting in the chamber – instead, it was about those thinking to stand in the next round of elections in 2027 and beyond.
Macdonald said there were “real challenges” in getting the chamber to reflect communities, and said the lack of election contests in previous years in the North Mainland and North Isles awards were “not good for the community, and it’s not good for this council chamber”.
Macdonald added that affordability has been a factor across the country for people considering being a councillor, especially for younger folk who may find themselves in a position where they have to choose between standing for local government or seeking other employment.
She said the pay increases could hopefully allow people sitting at home to think about how being a councillor could work in their own lives.
But Macdonald said the SLARC report was “only part of the issue” and highlighted “toxicity” as another barrier – including on social media and via the media.
Regarding the pay uplifts, the leader said it is about the positions and not the people carrying them out.
Meanwhile Lerwick South councillor John Fraser mentioned how he has come out of a period of poor mental health, and highlighted how he was fortunate to have a “very robust” support network.
He suggested that saying people going into public office should have “thick skin” is not beneficial.
Fraser said there is an “awful lot to be said about people coming into public office and being their true authentic self”.
He also urged local media to report responsibly and “do not create clickbait”.
Fraser also invited anyone who makes nasty comments on social media to pick up the phone and get in touch directly, and they could meet up to speak about it in a “respectful, courteous manner”.
He also offered support to any of his colleagues who may be affected by any backlash from the debate.
Meanwhile Lerwick North and Bressay councillor Stephen Leask said he effectively took a pay cut when he became a councillor in 2017.
“If we were here for the money I think we’d be in it for the wrong reasons,” he said – adding that councillors are there to serve the community.
Lerwick South member Dennis Leask also said his role of chairing the development committee comes with greater time demands than he expected.
His ward colleague Cecil Smith also said it needed to be stressed that it was not councillors themselves pushing for more pay, but that it stemmed from proposals from elsewhere.
He also highlighted how the figures for councillors’ salaries would not represent take home pay, with tax and national insurance coming off too.
Meanwhile Neil Pearson, who also represents Shetland South, said it could be easy to forget that councillors are “just normal people” who decided to stand to represent their ward – and who pay the same tax, the same bills.
North Isles member Duncan Anderson added that for younger people with a job a big factor is how supportive their existing employer is.
He said government legislation says employers are supposed to give someone reasonable time off for public duties, but there is no mandate to pay them for that.
The decision on what to pay senior councillors came down to a vote between Macdonald and Shetland South member Alex Armitage.
Armitage had supported an option which would have seen chairs of the main committees receive a 40.7 per cent pay rise, with other chairs getting a 19 per cent increase.
He was outvoted by 10-3, with six councillors abstaining from the vote.
Chairs of the education and families and audit committees, Davie Sandison and Allison Duncan respectively, had removed themselves from the meeting prior to the item starting.
Sandison said he did not believe he should be taking part in a debate about pay for committee chairs.
Meanwhile Macdonald also agreed to raise the issue with figures down south of a “resettlement” payment.
One SLARC recommendation was for resettlement, or severance, payments being introduced for councillors losing office at elections.
However, this was not taken up by the Scottish Government as this moment time.
Fraser said being a councillor was his primary source of income which tops up with other pieces of employment.
He said he was faced with a “predicament” where every five years he risks losing his job and primary source of income.
Fraser said he was disappointed the Scottish Government did not take up the idea of a resettlement payment – but Macdonald said she will raise the issue further with a representative with the barriers for elected office group.
Childcare was also raised as another barrier, while North Isles Robert Thomson questioned why more people seem to stand for by-elections.
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